Abstract: This research examines the need for a classroom library from the perspective of students within each grade level. The research explores opinions on reading engagement through the lens of those students in the classroom. Undergraduate, preservice teachers enrolled in a field-based course, collected the data from 17 regular education classrooms, 260 students across 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and high school grades, throughout seven urban school districts. The questionnaire was designed to answer three key questions, 1) “Do you like to read? 2) Does your current classroom have a quality classroom library? and, 3) Does having a good classroom library make you read more?” We felt it was important to understand first and foremost if the students did, in fact, enjoy reading. If they did enjoy reading, did they have access to a quality classroom library? This study brings a level of awareness to future and current teachers on the literary needs of classroom students from first grade to high school. Our pre-service teachers who participated study would often ask if classroom libraries were necessary since each school usually has a library for all students to use. Moreover, they were concerned with the expense of establishing and maintaining a classroom library. The results of this qualitative study show that classroom libraries do provide access to quality literature and also motivate children to read more. This study brings a level of awareness to future and current teachers on the literary needs of classroom students from first grade to high school.

Abstract: In the wake of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, numerous states passed anti-gay curriculum laws that circumscribed and/or prohibited discussions of homosexuality in k-12 public schools. These laws became a target of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer activism in subsequent decades. The following analysis examines one of the last such laws to be invalidated, the so-called “no promo homo” legislation in South Carolina. This investigation concludes that the ultimately successful arguments against the South Carolina legislation relied on the equal protection guarantees found in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and on a social movement tactic known as frame bridging.

Abstract: Understanding how to take notes is an important skill that is needed across grade levels and content areas, however many students are not taught how to successfully take notes. The focus of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of three notetaking strategies: doodle, foldable, and graphic organizers, for middle level learners in 4th, 6th, and 9th grades. The study examined the importance of explicit notetaking instruction, and the impact that these notetaking strategies had on student learning. The study found that 4th and 6th grade students preferred notetaking strategies that fostered creativity, but 9th graders simply expressed a need for explicit instruction and support in how to take notes. The study found that there was not one perfect notetaking strategy, instead, students need a variety of options that work for the individual and their learning styles. What is needed is explicit notetaking instruction so that students can support and advance their learning.

Abstract: This study examined factors affecting the implementation of a mindful yoga preschool intervention. Through a mixed methods phenomenological approach, teachers’ perceptions and their experiences with yoga and mindfulness were measured via surveys, focus groups, and observations. Results indicated that teachers’ perceptions of yoga and mindfulness for preschoolers, comfort level with yoga, and the benefits of teaching yoga and mindfulness increased. However, pre- to post-survey results were not statistically significant (t = 82; p = .42). Qualitative analysis regarding teachers’ perceptions of mindful yoga revealed the following: (a) high motivation level to implement the curriculum; (b) perceived direct benefits for students; (c) benificial links to Conscious Discipline; and (d) challenges existed regarding space, time, technology, and the need for more variety. In summary, this study provides novel insight on mindful yoga with preschool children and serves as a catalyst for futher research and development of mindful yoga interventions with preschool children.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions about the value of Arts at the Lower Primary Phase in Namibia. The researchers adopted an interpretive orientation for this qualitative case study. The selected research design and approach helped the researchers to shape the success of this study. Placing this study within the interpretive orientation facilitated the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data in a manner that helped the researchers to address the research objective in a meaningful way. In this study, the researchers used four methods to collect the data. These included interviews, focus group interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The findings in the study revealed teachers’ awareness of the role and value of Arts education at the Lower Primary Phase to be a particularly positive aspect of the study. The common and important value cited by these teachers during interviews was that Arts at the Lower Primary Phase stimulates the learner’s imagination and creativity.

Abstract: Challenges the modern world poses before urban planners are becoming more and more demanding. Global changes, including social, economic and environmental changes, require new approaches to planning and managing the functional and spatial urban tissue. The need for new competences to be acquired by urban planners in the course of their professional education is in particular visible in the countries which quickly transformed from the centrally planned economy and party controlled management to neo-liberal, free market economy. These countries failed to satisfactorily develop mechanisms controlling the spatial growth of the cities; what is more, we can observe in these countries a decline in public trust put in the urban planner, a professional taught to introduce the above mentioned controlling mechanisms. This article aims to define the most important competences an urban planner should have in view of the challenges posed by the modern world and to compare them with the teaching standards applicable at architecture and urban planning study program. The research was based on the guidelines published by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, developed in the light of the applicable UE requirements. In this article, the author attempts to answer the question whether the European teaching standards applicable to urban planning satisfactorily safeguard the right profile of education offered by universities within urban planning study programs in Poland.

Abstract: Organizations primarily exist to accomplish specific objectives and goals. For organizations to achieve these, Human Resource Management (HRM) practices need to be embraced. The Microfinance bank subsector is challenged by inability to adopt HRM practices which may affect its performance at all levels. This study examined the interaction between HRM practices and performance of Microfinance banks in Lagos State, Nigeria.The study adopted survey research design. The target population comprised 9,708 employees of national, state and unit micro finance banks located across Lagos State, Nigeria. The study used stratified random sampling technique to select the sample of 1,548. A validated questionnaire was used for collection of data. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.75 to 0.97 with response rate of 86.9%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (Pearson Product Moment Correlation and regression) statistics. Findings revealed that Human Resource Management practices components had significant combined effects on Microfinance bank performance (Adj. R2 = 0.678, F(5,1340) = 568.330). Recruitment and selection had significant effects on employee retention (β = 0.723, t(1345) = 132.569, R2 = 0.929, p<0.05). The study concluded that Human Resource Management practices influenced the performance of Microfinance banks in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study recommended that Microfinance banks should implement effective recruitment and selection, and restructure of the operations of Microfinance banks to keep their failing business alive and increase their competition.

Abstract: Despite a vast literature oninterprofessional teamwork, it is still unclear how learning in interprofessional student teams proceed at the workplace. We aim to elucidate reflexivity conceptually in interprofessional workplace learning and describe some possibilities for how reflexivity may drive learning in interprofessional teams. We define reflexivity as the regular exercise of the mental ability shared by all normal people, to consider themselves in relation to their (social) contexts and vice versa. We elaborate reflexivity conceptually through existing theoriesand seekto construct new aspects of the concept for increased meaning and understanding of the role of reflexivity in interprofessional team learning. We describe how different modes of individuals may interplay, driving the teamwork and the tasks further. The different modes of reflexivity resulting from our analysis may be useful for elucidating how interprofessional learning proceed in a course, and thereby our results be of use for course organizers.

Abstract: With COVID-19 considered by many experts to be endemic, the likelihood of persistent and incomparable academic and social-emotional disruption for school-aged children is extraordinary. School professionals have also been adversely impacted. Many children and families, prior to the pandemic, dealt with enduring adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) including domestic turbulence and financial, food, and housing insecurity. The disruption of the past two school years, and the possibility of ongoing school disruption, exacerbates these challenges. The recommendations herein are designed to address the expected long-term effects of the ongoing pandemic within the educational setting.